Next: The wattcom boom

I was at a meeting about three years ago where state energy commissioners and power plant developers were debating new market rules, some to take effect almost immediately, others five years out. A wise commissioner looked around the room and said something like: “All that matters are the immediate rules because everything will be different in five years. In fact, most of you won’t be working for the same company you are today.” Lo and behold, he was right. When I think of the people at the meeting, most are already elsewhere – and only three years have gone by. Some of the companies they represented, major players in the fossil fuel arena, are struggling for survival. And where is the commissioner who made the statement? He now works for a wind energy developer.

Who will be the new, big market entrants in the next five years? Here is a clue: More and more energy announcements that come across my desk are not from energy companies. They are from IT companies: Google, Hewlett Packard, IBM.

This makes sense given that a necessary marriage between IT and energy must occur for the development of the smart grid and user-friendly energy efficiency devices. Clearly, the IT world sees opportunity in energy.

Farah Saeed, a senior consultant for Frost & Sullivan, put it this way: “In the coming years, competition expects to intensify as non-energy related IT focused companies expand their presence in the utility sector. Companies such as IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and HP acknowledge the fact that Internet-enabled grid applications present opportunities to serve the utility market. Networks developed to support AMI [advanced metering initiatives] technologies such as home area networking (HAN) and backhaul networks, as well as enterprise software to support asset management, invites the expertise of IT technology pioneers.”

I’m predicting a “wattcom” boom. Okay, maybe the name is corny. But catch up with me in five years – probably less. Let’s see who’s in the room.

Most popular related searches

Related articles

Running a water management operation requires taking a wide range of measurements. In addition to measuring the flow in your system, many systems must measure the water level of their channel, and one of the best tools for accomplishing this goal is an ultrasonic flow meter.
If you’re considering using an ultrasonic flow meter in your operation, it’s a good idea to learn how this tool works and some of the issues that can impact its performance. Here is information about how an ultrasonic flow...

Less than a decade ago, offshore wind energy and solar PV were similarly priced energy sources. Unsubsidized installed costs for both exceeded $5 per watt, or more than double that for land-based wind. Despite their cost, both technologies were seen as the best hopes for supplying urban centers with green power, especially in the BOSNYWASH (Boston-New York-Washington, DC) corridor of the eastern U.S.
Retail energy prices in this corridor rank among the highest in North America, and lower cost energy from land-base...

The South Fork Wind Farm is a planned offshore wind farm located 30 miles east of Montauk that will consist of approximately 15 wind turbines and a subsea transmission system that will deliver energy to East Hampton, NY. Marine survey activities are scheduled to begin in Summer 2017. Marine construction is planned to start 2021.
Overview
The South Fork Wind Farm is a planned offshore wind farm located 30 miles east of Montauk that will consist of approximately 15 wind turbines and a subsea transmission system...

A Scottish council looking to make financial savings due to recent budget cuts needed to make decisions on whether renewable energy could improve the efficiency of their existing buildings. They wanted a time saving system that would allow them to get instant live data whenever they needed it and which would store the data in an easy to read format so that they didn’t have to spend time searching through mountains of spreadsheets and data when analysing results. They approached Logic Energy to look at their...

In Lemwerder, Germany at the Weser River, wind direction and speed are measured and transferred in 60 second intervals via the OTT netDL 1000. The data is transmitted, wireless, over a distance of 600 meters to the radar tower in Ritzenbuettel, where it is integrated into the ship traffic network - the Authority for Water and Navigation (WSA), Bremen. The WSA is also responsible for monitoring the traffic network for safety conditions. Each hour, a status report including the current water levels, weather...

Customer comments

No comments were found for Next: The wattcom boom. Be the first to comment!

Add your comment

Great! comment successfully added!

Contact

Your message:

Your email

Your first name

Your last name

I would like to receive periodic email updates and special offers from select suppliers.